


Under the Sea

by SnowyCarnations (CrimsonCarnations)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Mermaids, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Implied SpUk, M/M, Magic, Mermen, Mutiny, Pirates, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 06:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9222671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonCarnations/pseuds/SnowyCarnations
Summary: Arthur is a pirate who stumbles across the greatest treasure in a mild tempered merman he caught in a net, or at least he thinks so.





	1. Chapter 1

Feliciano swam around excitedly, holding his pet in his hands. Rusty, his pet octopus, had been with him for years now. The breed of octopus remained very small so it was very easy to carry him around frequently. He liked to carry him as well so it was a plus that he didn’t grow. 

The Italian gave a smile as he continued to swim, on his way home from the library where he had been reading with some of the merchildren. He turned back when he heard a noise but continued to swim and ran into a net. He gasped and started to scream. The net began to rise and he whimpered, trying desperately to get out of the net. He went silent after being out of the water. His chest began to hurt and he whimpered. He started to try and scream again, still holding Rusty close to him. He felt the net drop onto the deck and it made him panic. He tried to scoot towards the edge of the ship but found two feet in his way. He gasped and looked up, starting to have trouble breathing. He couldn’t see clearly but noticed blond hair and green eyes before his eyes slid shut. 

He awoke later, though he wasn’t sure how much later, and began to whimper, noticing he was stuck in a small tub. Fortunately the tub was filled with water. But that didn’t help much. He looked around and realized that Rusty was not near him and he began to worry once again. “H-Hey!” He called, though weakly, and started to tremble in fear. 

Arthur smirks and steps from the shadows when he realizes that Feliciano is awake. He leans down, cupping the merman’s cheek. “Beautiful. Fetch a nice price.” He mumbles, accent thick. He runs his thumb along the Italian’s jawline. “How do you work? Can you breath without water?” Arthur starts to run his hands along the Italian’s whole body, poking and prodding him to see reactions and such. He hauls him out of the tub and lays him along the planking of the bathroom. 

Arthur watches him with curious, though hard eyes. He wants to know everything about how to care for mermen and mermaids so that in the future, when he catches more, he’ll be able to keep them healthier. He figures that the healthier the merperson, the more money he’ll get when selling them. 

Feliciano’s eyes went wide and he whimpered. He tried to stop Arthur and tell him he couldn't but he was already struggling to breath when Arthur picked him up. He tried to crawl back towards the water and whimpered before falling flat and passing out again. 

Arthur quickly puts him back in the tub and makes sure it's as full as possible. He growls softly at himself and stalks off the ship. He has his ship steer in the direction of the biggest market, since he wants to sell Feliciano quickly and gets lots of money. He adores money. 

Feliciano woke up again a bit later and started to tremble again. He had been hoping desperately he was dreaming. But when he woke in the same uncomfortable tub he discovered that he was wrong. He started to cry softly, worried about not only himself but Rusty as well. He didn’t want to octopus to die because he was being stupid. He didn’t mean to get caught in the net. He didn’t want to belong to some human on a ship. He already missed his family and wanted to go home. 

Arthur came back in later with some fish in hand. He looks at Feliciano then sits beside the tub. “I wasn't sure what you ate.” He says and hands over the plate. “But I guess I could muster something else up if you don't want this.” He huffs softly and looks at the planks. “And you need to start opening your mouth faster when I ask you questions.” He snaps. 

Feliciano looked at Arthur and gulped. “I...don’t eat fish...but if...if it’s an inconvenience I...I’ll eat it.” he said shakily. He was scared more now since Arthur didn’t seem to care if a ‘test’ nearly killed him. He nodded. “I-I’m sorry” he whimpered, wiping his eyes and trembling a bit. “Wh-what are you g-going to do to me?” 

Arthur takes the plate back. “What do you eat?” He asks irritably. “Well first I’m going to find out everything I can about you, so I know what you're worth, and if you're really worth it, then maybe I'll keep you myself and treat you like royalty.” He responds and looks over at Feliciano. “You know, I don't know what that little octopus thing does, but I've never seen one that small. Don't look at me like that, it's not dead.” 

Feliciano shrugged. “Seaweed and clams mostly. Sometimes shrimp if we are really hungry” he looked at Arthur and listened to what he planned to do. Well if he never got to go back the sea, maybe telling Arthur the magic he could perform would help? He said if he was worth it he’d treat him like royalty. He looked up again when there was mention of the octopus, extremely worried that the brit would have killed him. He relaxed visibly when Arthur mentioned that he wasn’t dead. “Rusty is a baby. He’s my pet. He has nothing special about him. I mean I can talk to him but I don’t think you can. He’s not the smallest though. Some octopuses, full size, only get about this big.” he held up his hands in a circle about the size of a golf ball. He paused. “If you see an octopus will blue rings don’t touch them, they’re poisonous” he added quickly. “Rusty is only poisonous if he inks.” He explained. “You know...instead of tossing me around to try and figure me out, I could just tell you what I can and can’t do”

“That’s true. You’re very soft though, it wasn’t bad to feel you.” He mumbles and stands up. “I’ll be right back with some clams then. And your octopus. I know which ones are poisonous.” He responds, voice getting more irritable when he says the last bit. Arthur is getting grouchy with the Italian already, but he tells himself that he will get more information out of Feliciano by treating him nicely for the time being. If he really needs to, he can always rough him up later. 

Arthur tells his crew to collect seaweed and clams for the Italian before getting the jar Rusty was tossed into. He brings it to Feliciano and hands it over. “There. Now, your dinner is on the way, so you need to start talking.” He says, pulling a chair over and sitting on it, staring down at Feliciano, green eyes cold. 

Feliciano huffed a bit. He nodded and waited. He tanked him and took the jar, looking over it. He opened it carefully and pet the octopus gently on the head. He looked up at Arthur and nodded. “Alright...Well I guess I’ll explain everything since you didn’t even know I couldn’t breath out of the water, which you know I can’t now. Um, I can see little moments of the future, if I look for them, not every merperson can do that though. If I do it right, I can turn my tears into gems as well. We have siren-like abilities, though they are not nearly as strong. My scales can grant certain wishes but only if I give them to you. Oh...and there is one other thing that only works if i want it to. If I kiss a human, not the other way around, then I can grant them the ability to breath and speak underwater. I can’t help you if you can’t swim though.” he made sure to emphasize that he had to want to kiss him. Because he really didn’t want to be kissed by a bunch of people for that ability. 

Arthur looks intrigued by most of these things. He raises an eyebrow and leans back in his chair. “Well now, it looks like you are useful for something.” He says and hums. He kneels down and gets eye level with Feliciano. “What kind of container would you like to stay in?” He asks and ruffles his hair softly. “This tub seems a little cramped for someone who can do all of these things, doesn’t it.” Arthur softens his voice, like he’s talking to a child. It’s the voice that he uses when he wants to keep people from panicking. 

“And you can keep your octopus, I have no use for it.” Another crew member comes in with a plate of fresh clams and seaweed. Arthur hands the plate to Feliciano and stands up. “When you know how big of a tank you’d like, let me know. I have a job, but I’ll be back. You should have plenty of water and food, yeah?” Arthur smirks softly. He knows Feliciano can’t escape, even though they are docked at an island to raid. He tilts Feliciano’s head up gently. “Do you want anything while we’re out raiding?” 

Feliciano relaxed visibly when Arthur seemed pleased with the information. He looked at the tub he was in. He looked at Arthur again. “I’m not really sure what kind of tubs humans have but if I could swim around at least a little that would be nice.” he flinched at first then giggled when his hair was ruffled. He nodded and looked at Rusty with a small smile. “Yeah I should be fine” he paused when he was asked about needed anything. “Other than a bigger place to be I don’t think I need anything else.” Of course he wanted his family and to be in the ocean but he knew that was not going to happen. 

Arthur nods. He doesn’t think he can get a gigantic tank for Feliciano, but if he is careful and hires the right person, he knows that Feliciano can have plenty of swimming space. While in the raid he grabs a carpenter and drags him back to the ship, commanding him to find a spot on the ship to build a massive tank with the excuse that he wants to sell live octopi. He tells the man he wants it in or near his cabin, but relatively out of sight, he doesn’t want his crew touching Feliciano without permission. 

The carpenter trembles as he looks around Arthur’s cabin, trying to find a place for a large enough tank. He turns to Arthur. “If you take out this wall, and shrink the size of your personal bathroom a bit, we could install a fairly large tank here. Big enough that a human could swim around in.” He offers. 

Arthur nods his agreement. “Very good. Well do that. I’ll get you the proper materials. Or my crew will actually.” 

Feliciano waited for Arthur to come back. He took to octopus out of the container and held him gently. “This is a bit terrifying” he chuckled. He didn't really know what to do or what would happen. He just hoped desperately that Arthur listened when he said everything had to be willing. 

Arthur comes back into the bathroom where Feliciano is. “We’re taking out part of the bathroom to make you a tank.” He explains as the carpenter comes in and gasps. Arthur rolls his eyes and grabs his upper arm before leaving the room to tell his crew to steal heavy duty glass and metal and building tools. 

Feliciano looked up and nodded. He shifted and ducked down when he noticed the other man. “Thanks” he whispered. 

His men looked a bit confused but did as they were told. They weren’t gone long before returning with glass and metal. A few carried on the glass while the others carried metal. One crew member approached him with a box of tools. “Is this enough? We can go back out if you need more, captain”

Arthur looks at the carpenter. “Well? Is this enough?” He asks impatiently. The man squeaks and nods, grabbing materials and starting to work. It takes a few days to complete, but Arthur had been expecting that. When it comes down to it he fills the tank with ocean water then grabs Feliciano, hauling him into the tank. He smirks at him. 

“There you go.” He purrs softly and looks at him through the glass. “Do you need anything?” He asks and sets a hand on the glass. Arthur looks a bit smug, he wants to spoil Feliciano so that he can get these wonderful things that Feliciano promises happens when he likes him. He stands a little straighter. “Is this roomy enough?” 

Feliciano gasped a bit as he was put into the new container. He clung to Rusty as he did then let go of him and looked at him, flicking his tail a bit. He looked around and swam around it. He nodded. “Si, it is, Grazie” he smiled at Arthur then looked at Rusty again, who flicked his tentacles up and swam around Feliciano playfully. 

Arthur nods. “But do you need anything? My crew has been collecting clams and seaweed for you.” He says and huffs. “I wouldn’t be able to fit another merman in here, would I? No I suppose not, this is barely big enough for one such as yourself....” He starts to mumble to himself and walks away, sending a crew member in to feed Feliciano. 

Feliciano paused and flicked his tail. “I don’t think so” he shrugged. He tilted his head as Arthur began to mumble and walk away. “Another merman?” he looked at Rusty and chuckled. “I sure hope he doesn’t find any more of us. The king will be very upset” He whispered. 

“But the king won’t be upset if you are gone” The octopus flicked it’s tentacles again and looked at Feliciano. “I think Roma is probably worried sick. But it’s not like we can do much about it anyway. He put me in a jar Feli” Rusty gave a heavy huff. 

Feliciano laughed a bit and smiled. “I know. But you’re okay now. It’s okay. We can swim around in here and we’ll get food and such. And maybe if I kiss Arthur we can go swim in the ocean? I don’t think I should though. I can pay him with the gems and maybe a few scales. But I don’t think I should kiss him.”

Arthur steers the ship toward the his market to sell the other illegal things he has. He frowns at his maps, especially the one marked for the fountain of eternal youth. He gasps a bit as the ship rocks violently when a huge wave hits it, stepping onto the deck and frowning deeper. He heads back to his room. 

“Hey, there’s about to be a storm. Don’t panic, the ship will be fine and you will not be hurt.” Arthur locks his bedroom door, taking off his soaked clothes to change into dry ones. His crew will deal with the storm. He can risk being thrown over, because even in calm water he cannot swim. 

Feliciano had noticed something strange. He was already scared when Arthur came in and he gasped when he heard of the storm. He ducked down and Rusty swam behind him. He looked up at Arthur. “A-are you sure?” he asked, trembling enough to be noticeable in the water’s waves. 

Arthur nods. “Quite. You’ll be safe in here. Trust me, I know from experience.” Arthur huffs, angry with himself. A pirate who cannot swim, how could one be more pathetic? He sits on his bed, pulling out the map again. 

Feliciano gulped a bit and nodded. “Alright.” He floated lower in the tank and pulled Rusty into his arms. He flicked his tail out and shifted a bit. “Why are you in here?” he asked gently. “I thought humans had to take care of their ships during storms?”

Arthur blushes darkly and shrugs. “My crew will take care of it. I can’t swim. I can’t risk being thrown overboard in this weather.” He responds. Since Feliciano can’t do anything with the information, he doesn’t care if he knows. “I can’t even swim in calm seas, let alone stormy ones.” His face gets steadily darker as he speaks. “And it’s absolutely pathetic.” 

Feliciano tilted his head then looked down at his octopus. He giggled gently. “Mm for a merman, who lives in water it would be pathetic. For a human, who lives on land, breathes air and doesn’t have to worry too much about swimming to survive, it seems perfectly fine. But if it’s that big of a deal have you ever considered learning?”

“I can’t learn now. It’s too late.” Arthur responds and sets the map in his jacket. “Because if I learned now, then my crew would now. And if I’m weak my crew might mutiny, and then I’m left on an island to starve to death. I can’t have that, I can’t let myself be weak in front of my crew. And no one would teach me anyway. And we don’t have time.” 

Feliciano laughed softly and floated up as he did so. He flicked his tail a bit. “You have a magical mermaid that can grant wishes and help you learn right here. I exist. If I am going to be stuck here I may as well be stuck here helping you” 

Arthur frowns. “How would we do that anyway? I can’t learn in your tank.” He frowns a bit. Maybe when they dock at the next island he can ‘swim’ with Feliciano, though he doesn’t know how to keep Feliciano from just leaving. He stares at Feliciano for a few moments then just turns away. 

Feliciano’s face went flat and he sighed. “Let me repeat the first half of what I just said. Magical mermaid. Grant wishes. I can make you swim by just giving you one of my scales. You don't even have to learn. Then if it comes up and something happens I can always just kiss you” he shrugged. Then it doesn’t matter if you can swim or not” Rusty nuzzled into Feliciano and tugged at some of the things he wore around his waist, huffing. 

Arthur looks at him. “You said you’d have to want to. There’s no way you like me yet, so why would you do something like that?” Arthur asks. “I feel like there’s a catch that you didn’t want me to think about.” He crosses his arms over his chest. 

Feliciano rolled his eyes. “I have to want to yes. I don't have to like you. Besides. I said if. I can grant wishes without kissing you. I just have to give you one of my scales.” he shrugged. “I mean also if I am teaching you how to swim I’d get to be in the ocean again. Even if it’s just for a little ya know?” he shrugged. “I mean this is nice and all but the ocean is my home.”

Arthur looks at Feliciano and puffs out his cheeks. “How could I know that you won’t swim away.” He asks, raising an eyebrow at Feliciano. “I don’t want to lose a treasure such as yourself.” He comes toward the tank and sets his hand on the side of it. “Why do you want to help me swim? I suppose I can let you swim in the ocean, but only with some precautions.” 

Feliciano sighed. “I suppose you would just have to trust me. I mean the only other thing I can think of is a really long rope. But you can't tie it to my tail. I wouldn't be able to swim.” he shrugged. “Well swimming is all I know. It’s weird to think someone can't do it. Plus it’s safer for you.” 

Arthur shrugs then nods. “Alright. I guess I could do that. We’ll be landing a few times, but we could do it at the isle of the Fountain of Youth. I was planning on being there for a little while anyway, so it’s not a big deal, I suppose.” Arthur sighs and looks at Feliciano again. 

Feliciano nodded and smiled. He paused when Arthur mentioned the fountain of youth and almost chuckled. He wouldn't say anything. But he was fairly certain that was just a myth. He could be wrong though, that's why he didn't say anything.

Arthur lays down after a particularly harsh wave almost throws him to the ground. He watches Feliciano, admiring the merman’s beautiful body and hair. “How can you cry jewels? Does that hurt?” He asks gently. 

Feliciano flicked his tail and tilted his head. “No, No. I don’t cry jewels. I cry tears and if I take care of my tears properly they turn into jewels” he explained. “I’ll show you” He shrugged, pulling at his eyelid to make his eyes water, causing a few small tears to come out. He let one fall into his hand and blew on it gently, causing it to slowly expand into a blue gem. “Simple” 

Arthur watches with wide eyes. “Holy shit.” He walks over to the tank again and looks at the gem in his hands. “Can you make any gems you want, or do they just turn into random gems?” He asks. 

Feliciano chuckled at his reaction and let it float for a moment before catching it again. “I can do quite a few different ones. It all depends on how I want it to be I guess. I don’t know about value but I know weight, color, and size. I’ve been practicing for a while cause I find them absolutely beautiful”

“May I?” He asks, getting on his toes and reaching over the edge of the tank, wanting to know what kind of jewel it is. Arthur looks at Feliciano. “May I see some of the other ones?” He asks, smiling slightly at Feliciano. He thinks it’s wonderful to watch, but it’s not only that but he loves to have jewels of value. 

Feliciano swam to the top and held the gem out to him. He floated back down a bit. “Sure. Anything specific you'd like? I can try for anything. I just can't guarantee anything” he laughed a bit. He smiled and tilted his head. 

Arthur shrugs. He looks brings the gem to his eye and looks through it. He hums softly and looks at Feliciano before setting it aside. He watches Feliciano. “Can you make some topaz and ruby gems. Red or light brown.” He says and looks down at the blue gem. He touches it softly and hums, wanting to make jewellry for Feliciano to wear. 

Feliciano nodded. “Sure I can try that” he smiled and did the same again but focused different. He made a few different gems for Arthur then swam up again and held them out for him. “Like this?” 

Arthur takes them and nods. He puts them in a little bag. “Thank you.” He says and looks back at him. “You’re beautiful.” He compliments. He smirks slightly. 

Feliciano nodded and smiled, flicking his tail and tilting his head. He blushed deeply and giggled a bit. “Ah thank you” He whispered. “I don’t really know human beauty standards but I’m not really that great in our community” 

Arthur watches him and tilts his head slightly. “Well you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.” He says and sits down on the bed. He lays back with a flop and closes his eyes, starting to go to sleep after that. He rolls over in his sleep and makes a few soft sounds as he has a nightmare because of the storm. 

Feliciano giggled. “Well I guess that is nice to know” He curled up on the bottom of the tank and nuzzled into rusty, the two falling asleep together rather quickly. Feliciano slept with Rusty like this frequently so he was glad Rusty had been kept with him, the octopus helped him sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur wakes up in the morning and tells his crew they are headed to the isle of the fountain of youth. Upon arriving on the island on the map almost a week later he sends his crew inland to search while he tells Feliciano to hold his breath and carries him to the ocean. He steps off the end into the water, holding Feliciano close to him. Once in the ocean he flounders, letting him go in his slight panic. He manages to get his head above water and gasps for air before going under again. 

Feliciano gasped and bit his lip, squeezing his eyes shut and holding his breath, though doubting it would actually help. He managed to stay awake long enough to get him into the water. He gasped when he noticed Arthur panicking and grabbed him gently, flicking his tail and holding him above the water. “Relax or you’re going to drown” he huffed. 

Arthur holds onto him tightly, face bright red in embarrassment. He looks down a bit and pushes his boots off his feet, letting them sink to the ocean floor. He undresses down to his boxers carefully, looking at the clothes. “I need to get these to float to shore.” He says softly and sets them in the water. He looks up at Feliciano. “How do you swim?” He asks. 

Feliciano nodded and held Arthur up with one hand, taking the clothes with the other and swimming them all closer to the shore. He brought him back out and looked at him. “It’s not really something I can say.” he sighed a bit. “You have to flick your tail...wait no..um...your legs? and move your arms to push water behind you.”

Arthur nods and tries to do what he says, desperately trying to stay calm. He kicks his legs but still dunks under the water again. He moves his arms a bit, trying to bring his head above the water again, holding his breath as long as he can. 

Feliciano stayed close to him and held him up whenever he seemed like he wouldn’t be able to hold himself out of the water. “You’re doing good. It is gonna take a while like this though” he stated with a slight sigh 

Arthur sputters and spits out the water in his mouth. “Maybe… Maybe you should just get me the scale. And then we can swim around together instead of… This…” He gestures at Feliciano and sighs softly. He leans his head back, dunking his head under the water. 

Feliciano chuckled and nodded. He flicked his tail and a small scale flew off, landing in his hand. “I already sort of figured that would happen. So I prepared one already” he held it out to him and smiled. “Here. Just make the wish on it”

Arthur takes it and wishes to be able to swim. His mind wanders, not something that you can afford to do while wishing. Something certainly feels different about him, but he can’t place it. His chest aches a bit, until he is fully submerged and breathes in the salt water. He panics for a moment. “THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!” He shouts, flicking his sparkling emerald tail. He looks down at it then looks at Feliciano again. “What do we do?” 

Feliciano watched him and started to laugh. He sunk under the water and nearly to the floor as he laughed before wiping his eyes and relaxing a bit, still grinning in amusement. “Well, We’ll have to go to the king. I can’t fix this. How did you manage this? You’d have to have been thinking about being a merman or at least thinking of one” 

Arthur blushes darkly. “Well seeing as how one was holding me against his chest, you’d think I’d be thinking of one. You are rather attractive.” He responds, still irritated. “It’ll take weeks to get back to where I picked you up… I hope you know how to get there.” He huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Feliciano chuckled and smiled. “Alright.” he paused. “Oh no, I have to be in the water for a while before I know anything like that. I have no clue where we are” He chuckled a bit and ran his hands along Arthur’s tail. “It’s pretty. You are probably much more attractive than me on our scale” he pouted. “No fair” he crossed his own arms. “Oh wait! What about Rusty?” 

Arthur looks up at Feliciano then sinks to the ocean floor. “Maybe they’ll throw it overboard.” He mumbles, still quite angry about everything. He looks at Feliciano again, then sighs. “I dunno. I’ll think it over.” He hums softly. “Let’s find somewhere to hide, so they don’t try to pull us onto the ship again. That could get us both killed.” 

Feliciano shook his head. “He was with a magically merman do you really think they will get rid of him? Okay fine” he muttered. He swam around a bit. “Here there is a cave down here that looks like it is unoccupied. We can stay there for a bit” he smiled at Arthur.

Arthur is still unsure in his movements. He lets himself sink to the bottom, closing his eyes tightly. His chest tightens with panic. He had spent all this time building up his following, his crew, and now he’s stuck underwater. Arthur can’t help the tears that fall, but he tries to hide the fact that he’s crying. 

Feliciano looked at him and tilted his head before swimming closer to him. He looked over Arthur and sighed. “Hey. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you human again. Even if it is something I don’t want to do. You don’t have to be stuck like this” He smiled a bit. “I promise”

Arthur turns his body away. “Whatever.” He snaps, pulling his hands away from his face. He swims to the cave and settles in it, making sure not to look at Feliciano. He has a plan to get Rusty back, but he can’t until his crew comes back and he can try to convince them to throw Rusty overboard. 

Feliciano flinched and huffed a bit. “Hey. I was just trying to be nice” He pouted. He followed him into the cave and sat on the ocean floor. He crossed his arms and tried to focus, wanting to get himself used to this location as fast as possible so they could move soon. 

Arthur frowns at him, then looks away, closing his eyes. “I know.” He hisses softly. He looks at Feliciano and tilts his head, watching him. “I don’t know how to do anything. You have to teach me.” He tells Feliciano. 

Feliciano hummed and shrugged. “Well it really depends on yourself. You won’t need to know how to do much since we are just going to head there once I get my bearings.. You’ll know the way too. It will take much longer for you to get used to the directional parts but you’ll figure it out. You can breath normally, like you would above water as a human. As for your tail just flick it. You really don’t have to move your arms but you’ll move faster if you do.”

Arthur practices swimming around. He looks at Feliciano. “Can you use a wish for yourself? Can you make wishes for other mermen?” He asks, tilting his head. He wants to plan out how he’s going to get Rusty back, in case something goes wrong. 

Feliciano thought for a moment. “Well, I can use one of your scales. And you can use on of my scales. But we can’t use them for ourselves I don’t think. I have never really tried.The king can do whatever he wants but I don’t know if we can” 

Arthur nods. “Would you prepare a scale for me?” He asks softly, tilting his head to the side. “I mean, I get it if you don’t want to.” Arthur looks Feliciano in the eyes, laying back on the sandy floor of the cave. 

Feliciano tilted his head. “Well sure I guess. But you can’t wish to be human. It won’t work” he shrugged. “Why do you need one?” he asked, situating himself on the ground and starting to prepare one. 

“It’s a secret. I know I can’t wish to be human, that wasn’t my plan.” Arthur looks at Feliciano. “I just… I’m going to use it for something I have planned. I’m gonna get you back your pet, and I know how I’ll do it.” 

Feliciano tilted his head and shrugged. “Alright. Well if it involves Rusty I trust you” he assured. “Just be careful” he smiled and got back to preparing the scale. He flicked his tail when he was done and caught it, holding it out for him. 

Arthur nods and watches him. A few days later, when his ship starts to set sail, he swims to the surface and gets a crew member’s attention, and tells him to throw the octopus overboard. He gasps softly when a rope hits him in the face, swatting it away. “Just throw the damned octopus overboard.” He snaps. 

Feliciano was finally starting to get his senses back and he was out getting food when Arthur had gone to get Rusty back. 

The crew member looked confused. “Don’t you want to climb up? Did you lose the merman?” he asked, looking down at his captain and raising an eyebrow. “Have you been in the water this whole time?”

“Yes, dipshit, I have. I didn’t lose the merman, he’s the reason I’ve been in the water so long. I got eternal youth if I trade over the octopus, so hand it over.” He is making it up as he goes, and honestly he can tell the crew member doesn’t believe him, but he can’t climb up the rope, it will get him captured or killed. 

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Fine. I guess that makes sense. It doesn’t seem like something you would do” he muttered before heading into Arthur cabin and grabbing the already panicking octopus. He tossed it overboard and crossed his arms. “How long is that going to take? Should we stay docked here? They thought you were dead” he called.


	3. Chapter 3

Arthur pauses, holding the octopus to his chest for a moment then letting go. He stays at the top of the water for a moment. “Leave.” He responds before flipping and going under, splashing with his tail. He panics, swimming as deep as he can get as quickly as possible. 

The crew member gasped and turned to tell the crew. A few of them try to send in nets after them, wanting to take Arthur if he were going to be a merman. They don’t obey, staying put to try and catch one of the two. 

Feliciano noticed a few nets on his way back and his eyes went wide. He swam towards them and bit his lip, calling out for Arthur. 

Arthur looks over when he hears Feliciano calling for him, but his lapse in attention proves dangerous when he feels he’s no longer able to swim. He struggles with the rope netting, panic flashing through him. He grips the scale Feliciano gave him but is careful not to use it, if he needs to get out of this, he’d need it later. 

Feliciano gasped and swam towards him. He set the fish aside and started to try and tug at the netting. “What exactly did you do to get him back?!” he asked in a panicked tone. Nets around them started to float up. 

“Get out of here.” Arthur snaps. “I can’t have them capturing you as well. Go away, go hide. I’ll be fine.” He waves his hands at Feliciano. Arthur looks him in the eyes. “Just go hide in the cave. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” 

Feliciano flinched and backed up. “But...you...you’re not human. You won’t be able to handle being out of the water that long! If they don’t put you in the water quickly you could die! I can handle it longer! Plus I can give them what they want. I know how to use my powers.” he huffed. 

“Feli just go. This isn’t the time to be heroic. I can’t get out of this so go hide. I’ll be back soon, please.” Arthur looks at him desperately. “Please go hide in the cave.” He begs, sitting still as the net is pulled up. He is extremely worried about Feliciano getting caught again as well. 

Feliciano frowned deeply and curled his tail in. He bit his lip and nodded shakily, swimming towards the cave. He didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t get Arthur out and them both getting caught wouldn’t be helpful to anyone. He decided he would wait a while then if Arthur didn’t come back he would go beg the king to help him. 

Arthur watches him hide, closing his eyes and holding his breath when he’s about to breach the water. Unlike Feliciano, he didn’t stay awake long enough to even see the deck of the ship. He makes sure to keep the scale in his hand, but otherwise, is out. He can only hope that his crew aren’t dicks and put him in his tank. 

Feliciano had to visibly relax himself and stop himself from following after him. He was worried. He could give the men what they wanted. Arthur couldn’t. He looked up at the surface and flicked his tail a bit. 

His crew wasn’t exactly kind about it but they do drop him in the tank. One of the burlier of the men was sitting and waiting for Arthur to wake up, perfectly enjoying that he was able to sit on the captain’s bed and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. 

Arthur blinks awake. He stares at the man on his bed before turning to the wall and crossing his arms. He stays that way, unwilling to be cooperative with these men. He hates them, he hates every single one of them. Arthur looks at the scale and sighs, wondering how far it will get him. 

The man looked up at him and smirked a bit. “I understand why you were always so in love with this bedroom. It is rather comfortable for being on a ship” he hummed. “So how did you get yourself turned into a merman, hm? Did your little swimming partner betray you?” He laughed a bit. “Well now we have a tool we know how to use” he shrugged. “Just be prepared because we all want something out of this” He snorted. “I’m in charge now” 

Arthur doesn’t respond, not giving them the pleasure of seeing him angry. He frowns slightly, closing his eyes and holding the scale tighter. “You will not be getting something from me. Everything has to be given through consent and I will not give you anything.” He responds calmly, leaning his forehead on the wall. 

The man went to leave but paused and turned to him with a growl. “Then maybe we’ll just have to find the other stupid merman. He seemed a lot more willing and he doesn’t know what we are capable of” He snapped before leaving the room. 

Arthur waits until the man leaves to start to panic slightly. He holds the scale close, wondering just what he should wish to get out of this. He takes a deep breath and wishes for a storm to roll in, hoping it will be sufficient cover for him to make his escape, though it doesn’t happen, and Arthur thinks that it was too big of a wish and he just wasted the scale. 

The man came back a bit later with food. He dumped it into the tank then turned and left again without a word. He was not going to speak with him until he either got the merman or Arthur agreed to give them the powers. 

Arthur doesn’t touch the food, turning away from it. He doesn’t want it, he wants what he usually eats, but he can’t have it anymore. He frowns softly, sprawling over the hard bottom of the tank. He momentarily feels terrible for forcing this on Feliciano like he did. He wants to see Feliciano again, that much he knows, at least to apologize. 

About a half an hour later the boat begins to shake violently and rain and thunder poor down on the boat. The crew panics and runs around to fix everything, worried that the ship will sink. 

Arthur almost screams as he’s thrown painfully against the side of the tank. He ducks his head into the water and takes a deep breath, covering his gills with one hand before propelling himself out of the tank in the direction of the door. He instantly feels breathless and coughs, struggling in the direction of the door. 

Most of his crew either doesn’t notice him or doesn’t bother with the door. One of the cabin boys hears and moves towards the door. He opened it and looked at Arthur. He gasped and looked at the rest of the crew, not sure what to do. He was kind of glad no one else seemed to notice. He reached down and attempted to pick Arthur up, getting him over his shoulder and rushing to the edge. He tosses Arthur overboard and down into the ocean before running to quickly close the cabin door. 

Arthur starts to panic when he’s picked up, but is immediately relieves when he’s tossed overboard. He looks up at the cabin boy from the water and nods his head at him before turning to swim down again. Arthur goes to the cave he and Feliciano decided on and swims inside. “Feli?” He asks gently. 

Feliciano looked up when he heard Arthur’s voice and a sigh of relief washed over him. He swam over to him and hugged him tightly before pulling away and blushing. “Sorry” he whispered, turning away for a moment to calm himself then looking at Arthur again. “I’m glad you’re okay. I was really worried.” 

Arthur started to hug him back but blushed and lowered his arms when Feliciano pulled away. He frowns softly and looks down. “It’s okay.” He responds and looks at the Italian. “I wished for a storm. I guess it worked.” He looks out at the ocean. “A cabin boy saved me. Threw me overboard when the crew was panicking about the storm.” 

Feliciano nodded. “Well then that explains the weather. They will look for you again when the storm is over. But I can’t really sense anything in this weather. We could swim but we might go the wrong way and have to swim the other way later.” He shrugged. 

Arthur nods a bit. “But we should probably get away from the ship. I don’t care how long it takes to fix this.” He gestures at himself. “I just want to get away from those imbeciles. I never had a good crew.” He huffs softly. 

Feliciano nodded. He grabbed Arthur’s hand and pulled him away from the ship and just starts to swim as quick as he can. “That’s unfortunate.” He whispered. “I don’t really know what that means. But it doesn’t exactly sound good” he shrugged. 

Arthur gasps softly when he’s yanked forward, struggling to keep up with Feliciano. His fingers slip from Feliciano’s hand and he struggles worse to keep up. “I don’t really care, they’re just assholes.” He responds, taking a ragged breath. 

Feliciano slowed down when he noticed that Arthur was struggling to keep up and blushed in embarrassment. “I’m sorry.” he whispered. “I think we are far enough away now though” he joked, wanting to lighten the situation. 

Arthur gives him a small smile and nods. “I agree. Let’s find a cave to spend the night, alright?” He swims lower and peeks into caves to make sure there’s nothing in them. He finally picks one and curls up in the sand, sighing softly. 

Feliciano nodded and followed him into the one he chose. He slid down and grumbled a bit, tired at this point. He curled up and pulled Rusty closer to him. The octopus curled into him and the two of them fell asleep rather quickly. 

Arthur took a while to fall to sleep. He’s stressed out and uncomfortable laying like this. Arthur looks over at Feliciano and curls up to him, nuzzling into Feliciano’s back softly. He closes his eyes and starts to go to sleep finally. 

Feliciano looked back at Arthur and blinked in confusion before huffing and laying his head back down, falling asleep again. He didn’t know what Arthur was doing but at this point he was so tired he didn’t particularly care. 

Arthur stays asleep well into the next day, though at some point in the night he wrapped his arms around Feliciano. He has a tight grip on the Italian and his face is pressed between his shoulder blades. 

Feliciano woke in the morning and turned bright red when he noticed that Arthur was around him. He went to move away and gasped when he noticed how tight the grip was. He huffed and looked at Alfred, poking at him. “Wake up” he grumbled 

Arthur blinks awake and looks at Feliciano in confusion. “It’s too early.” He responds and closes his eyes, getting ready to go back to sleep. He’s comfortable holding onto Feliciano and he doesn’t want to move yet. 

Feliciano huffed. “You are holding onto me. Is this some normal human thing? We have to go you can’t sleep any more” he huffed. 

Arthur groans softly and finally let’s go of him. He still feels exhausted. “It’s a normal human thing. We like to hold things when we sleep.” He mumbles and rubs his face. “I liked holding you. You’re so soft.” He whispers and gets up, swimming around to wake himself up more. “I’m fucking tired, dammit.” 

Feliciano moved away and fixed his sashes. “Well it’s not normal to us” he muttered. “I’m sorry you’re tired but the sooner we get to the king the better. So we need to start going. Also just because no one was here yesterday doesn’t mean this cave is open for the taking” he added, having experienced that before. 

Arthur pouts at Feliciano and nods a bit. “Well you need to lead the way.” He responds grumpily, looking away from Feliciano. He’s upset that he didn’t get to sleep longer and that Feliciano is scolding him over something he didn’t consciously do. 

Feliciano nodded. He swam out of the cave and waited for Arthur to follow him before swimming towards the kingdom. He paused a bit and turned to make sure Arthur was following him and he wasn’t going too fast. 

Arthur follows closely behind him, still pouting. His stomach growls but he tries to ignore it. He doesn’t want the food that Feliciano mentioned they eat, he wants to eat fish or human foods, but he can’t get them. 

Feliciano paused when he too got hungry. He sunk to the bottom and grabbed some seaweed off the seafloor and a clam. He ripped the clam open and sucked out the part he could eat then ate the seaweed. He expected Arthur to do the same so he didn’t speak. 

Arthur settles on the sand but doesn’t eat anything, refusing to eat seaweed and not sure how to eat clams. He rests his head on his arms and watches the fish swim by, feeling pretty sad. He closes his eyes and ignores his stomach grumbling at him. 

Feliciano looked up at Arthur. “Aren’t you going to eat? There are plenty of clams and seaweed.” He looked at Arthur and tilted his head. He picked up a clam for him. “You’ll never make it to the kingdom if you don’t eat. We get really tired when we are hungry.”

Arthur blushes darkly and looks at him. “I don’t want seaweed. That’s disgusting.” He responds softly. “But I guess… I guess I’ll try the clams. How do you open them?” He asks softly, watching Feliciano. 

Feliciano nodded. “It’s actually pretty good” he muttered. “But you just pick it up and crack it.” He took the one he had in his hand and cracked it, holding it out for him. “You’re stronger in this body, I’m sure” 

Arthur nods and takes the clam. He eats it then grabs another and cracks it open. Now that he’s had at least one he’s starving. He eats it desperately then pauses to eat the seaweed as well, but makes a disgusted face and doesn’t eat those anymore. 

Feliciano watched and chuckled. He pushed a few more clams towards him and ate another. He finished up with the last clam and a piece of seaweed before looking at Rusty, handing him a few pieces of seaweed as well. The octopus ate them and smiled at the Italian. “Oh!” Feliciano looked over at Arthur. “We should see if you can use any of your magics yet” he looked at Rusty and smirked, pushing the octopus towards him. “Talk” He looked between the two.


	4. Chapter 4

Arthur eats a few more clams, not full but not willing to eat anymore. His stomach is churning and makes him want to vomit it back out. He glances at the octopus then back at Feliciano. “What the fuck am I supposed to say? It’s a fucking octopus.” He responds, eyebrows coming together in confusion. 

Feliciano shrugged and shifted a bit. “Um. I dunno. Ask him a question or something. He can understand you already anyway. He’s just a little scared of you” he looked at Rusty and smiled. 

The octopus looked up at Arthur and huffed. “I’m more than some octopus” he pouted, looking at Feliciano and moving towards him. The Italian pushed him a bit closer. Rusty remained silent from there and looked at Arthur, huffing again. 

Arthur looks at the octopus then at Feliciano. “Well well well, I guess you are more than just some octopus.” He responds, reaching out slowly. “May I?” He asks gently, holding his hands near Rusty but not going to touch him before he has permission. 

Rusty looked at Arthur and tilted his head. “Hey look. He can hear me. It works.” he muttered. He paused when he noticed the Brit’s hands move close to him. “What?” He flicked his tentacles a bit. “Um. I guess?” he looked over at Feliciano, who smiled and nodded encouragingly. 

“You should be able to talk to most sea creatures.” Feliciano explained. “It’s one of the biggest reasons we don’t eat them. Because they talk back” He shrugged. “And we are half fish so eating fish is weird.” 

Arthur gently strokes Rusty and then pulls his hand away. “I see. Well, we should get a move on I guess, get to the king and all that.” He mutters, pushing himself off the sand. He blushes lightly, not looking at Feliciano. 

Rusty leaned into the movement and almost pouted when he stopped. He swam around in a circle around Arthur and then went back to Feliciano’s side. Feliciano chuckled and smiled at the octopus. “He likes you” He whispered. “Mkay. If you have eaten enough we can go then” he pushed himself off the sand as well. 

Arthur smiles a bit at Rusty and nods at Feliciano. He still has no idea where to go, that power hasn’t come to him. He follows Feliciano once more, lost in thoughts. He is starting to realize that he’s falling for Feliciano. And he doesn’t like that at all. 

Feliciano hummed and flicked his tail as he swam, smiling and turning to make sure Arthur was still close behind. It didn’t take much longer to get to the kingdom and Feliciano became quite hesitant. He stopped just before the borders. “Do you think they will be mad at me?” He asked, not really directed at Arthur or the octopus. “Will they blame me for this?” He pulled Rusty into his arms. “What if he says no? What are we going to do?” 

Arthur looks over at Feliciano and then back at the kingdom. “It’s my fault, we’ll explain that.” He responds and gives him a small smile. He frowns slightly and shrugs. “I guess… I guess if he says no then I’ll have to live with you. It’s not that bad, is it?” He asks nervously, scared that after all this Feliciano might still hate him. 

Feliciano looked up at him. “It’s not that. I would love for you to stay...But if he says no I can’t guarantee he will let either of us stay. And if he says yes what happens then? You get turned into a human and go back to your ship?” he looked down a bit. “I...I don’t know...what will happen” he almost whimpered. 

Arthur looks away from him. “I don’t really want to go back to my ship.” He mumbles then turns to Feliciano. “What if we ask him to let me stay in this form instead?” He asks softly, taking Feliciano’s hand and kissing his palm. 

Feliciano blinked in slight confusion. “You...You don’t?” He looked at the blond then down at the sand. He blushed when Arthur kissed his palm. “You...We wouldn’t have to ask...really.. We would just have to mention it. If you wanted to stay here. You would have to get sworn in. And go to school” He whispered. “It only takes a few days to go to school for us. It’s just to find out which abilities you have”

Arthur nods a bit. “Well then, I guess we have our decision then.” He smiles brightly and leans toward Feliciano, gently pressing a kiss to his lips. “I want to stay here with you. It doesn’t matter that I’ll have to give up my legs permanently.” He looks down at himself. “At least I can swim, right?” He jokes softly. 

Feliciano blushed and nodded, kissing back gently and giggling at his joke. He hugged Arthur tightly and nodded. “Okay. Then… We should go in I guess” he whispered, looking over the kingdom and taking a deep breath, grabbing Arthur’s hand and lacing their fingers together. 

Arthur hugs back gently and nods, following Feliciano and holding his hand gently. Once inside and in front of the king he stares wide eyed, and suddenly he realizes how Feliciano can be as scared as he is. 

Feliciano gulped and moved towards him, bowing and looking at Arthur, wanting him to do the same. “Um. So this human got turned into a merman and he wants to stay” Feliciano whispered. He looked at Arthur and bit his lip slightly. 

Arthur bows slightly, though his head strong attitude doesn’t let him for very long. The king raises his eyebrow then turns an angry glare to Feliciano. “And how exactly did this human turn into a merman?” He asks, quite irritated. “You know that humans and mermen aren’t allowed to fall in love. Did you turn him?” 

Feliciano bit his lip. “It was an accident I swear. I didn’t turn him. He wanted to be able to swim and he accidentally turned into a merman instead. I was letting him use one of my scales, sir” he whispered, moving back slightly and flicking his tail nervously. 

Arthur glances at Feliciano then back at the king, barely managing to hold his tongue and not snap at the king. The king huffs softly and gets eye level with Feliciano. “I’m sick of having you around, you’re pathetic and useless and troublesome. You’re not even pretty.” He mutters, tilting up Feliciano’s head. “So I’ll make you a deal. I’ll turn you both into humans and I’ll let you live half on land and half in water. You just have to stay the hell away from me.” He pushes away Feliciano. 

Feliciano bit his lip and looked down, trembling slightly. He looked up at him when he grabbed his head and blinked. He winced at being pushed away and looked at Arthur. “I...Okay...yes, sir” he whimpered softly, trying not to tear up from everything he said. 

The king looks at Arthur, who nods quickly. The king nods. “So you’ll be able to transform between human and merman at will. Both of you can. But you must live away from me, you got that? I don’t want you back here, causing trouble.” He does a spell, then shoos them away. 

Feliciano nodded and shifted a bit. “Okay.” He pulled Arthur along until they were out of the kingdom again where he slid down to the sand and finally let himself cry. He apologized softly and wiped his eyes, trembling a bit. “He’s not like that to anyone else as far as I have seen. I don’t get it” he sniffled. 

Arthur hugs him close and strokes his hair. “I don’t know, Feliciano, I’m sorry. He’s wrong though, you’re beautiful and I love you so much.” He whispers, kissing the tip of his nose. “Let’s go find a piece of land we can half live on. We’ll spend nights up there, because beds are much better than sand.” 

Feliciano sniffled and nodded. “I love you too” he whispered. “A bed? Okay. Is that what you were sleeping on before?” he asked, tilting his head a bit. “I won’t know how to walk” he whispered. “Or really do anything with legs” He nuzzled into Arthur a bit. 

Arthur nods and brings Feliciano away, back toward where they had been previously. He finds an available island with plenty of cover, deciding he wants to be human. His tail glows and turns back into legs, though they are covered in small green scales still. Arthur crawls out of the water, taking a deep breath of the salty air. 

Feliciano followed him and stayed in the water for a moment. He took in a deep breath and moved to be on the island, watching his tail turn into legs. His eyes widen and he looked down at them, lifting his legs up individually and moving his toes around. It feels incredibly weird to him. He noticed that when turned he still had the sashes tied around his waist and he looked at them, tilting his head before trying to stand, legs trembling. 

Arthur holds out his hands, grabbing onto Feliciano gently to help him come forward. “It’s okay. Take it slow.” He says gently, smiling softly. “I mean, most humans don’t have scales, so we’ll have to hide that if it comes down to it. But we can do this.” He continues to lead Feliciano onto the land. He looks at the trees. “So we’ll have to make a shelter. Or wish one to existence if that’s possible.” 

Feliciano nodded and held onto him tightly, stumbling after him and biting his lip slightly. “Okay. Well you wore fabrics on your skin when you were on the boat. They covered it right?” he asked, tilting his head a bit. “I think we can. If I prepare a scale under the water you can wish one into existence up here”

Arthur nods. He visualizes the house he wants when Feliciano says that. “Of course, pants cover legs like that. We could probably wish those into existence as well. Alright, so you can prepare a scale, I’ll look around the island a bit. I’ll look right there.” He points into the forested area. 

Feliciano nodded and shifted a bit. “Okay. Can we make sure there is a fish tank for Rusty?” He asked, looking back towards the water. “Maybe we can wish he can do it too. So he can walk on land with us. Maybe not as a human. What do humans keep as pets?” he asked, looking up at Arthur. 

Arthur nods. “I’ll make sure to have a big tank for Rusty. I don’t think we can do that, since the two of us needed the king to do it. Humans usually keep dogs and cats, since we’re on land and they can breath air. Sometimes they crazier ones have birds and fish and rats.” He responds. “I love cats and dogs.” He hums softly. “Maybe we can go pick them up. You’ll love cats, I’m sure.” 

Feliciano nodded. “Ah that’s true. What’s a dog? What’s a cat? That sounds nice.” he smiled a tilted his head. “Okay. I think I should get used to walking first” he shrugged a bit. “But I should go prepare a scale so that we can have shelter.”

Arthur nods. He helps Feliciano back into the water then looks around to find a sheltered spot but still big enough to have their house. He finds a good spot for it and moves away some leaves, smiling a bit. He heads back to the water and slides into it, trying not to panic when he does so. 

Feliciano relaxed when he had his tail again, swimming around a bit and hugging Rusty. “We are gonna have a place for you while we are on land” he assured and smiled. He began to prepare a scale for when Arthur got in to use it.

Arthur changes into a merman and joins Feliciano, watching him with a small smile. He is fully interested in the way that Feliciano is preparing it. “Can you show me how to do this? And how to do everything else that mermen can do? Since I’m going to spend half of my time as one, I guess it’s only fair.” 

Feliciano nodded. “Si as long as you show me what humans can do” he smiled a bit. He held the scale out for him. “We can prepare one to wish for clothes and I will walk you through how to do it?” He offered. 

He nods and watches what Feliciano does. He visualizes the clothes that he wants to wear when he gets the scale, happy to be about to have his captain clothes again. He scans Feliciano’s face, deciding what he wants to get Feliciano as well. 

Feliciano nodded and spoke about what he was doing while he prepared it before flicking his tail to get it off and handing it to Arthur. “If you do it right it won’t hurt and it will grow back.” he assured. 

Arthur nods and looks at his own tail. He turns to a human once more, getting out of the water. When Feliciano does the same he wishes up a couple sets of clothes for the two of them, smiling at him. He pulls Feliciano into a gentle kiss afterwards, humming softly as he does so.

Feliciano smiled and got out with him, holding onto him a bit tightly. He smiled when the clothes appeared and turned back to him, kissing back gently. He kept a grip on him but it loosened. 

Arthur smiles at him. “Here, let me show you how to put these on.” He says, grabbing the boxers he made for Feliciano. “Here. Put one of your feet in here.” He gently helps Feliciano put his leg through one of the holes, then your other foot in the other one. Very good.” He says gently. 

Feliciano did what Arthur said and nodded. “Okay.” he whispered, stumbling as he tried to balance to get them on. He looked at them and tilted his head. “What are these for?” He asked. 

“Well… They protect your genitals from getting chafed by the pants. Since you’re a human you have a penis.” Arthur explains. He picks up the pants and helps Feliciano into those next. “And these protect your legs. And hide your scales.” He ruffles Feliciano’s hair gently. “And this is a shirt. You put your arms through the holes like that, yeah.” He buttons a few up then just smiles at him. 

Feliciano blinked. “What’s a penis?” he asked, tilting his head. He climbed into the pants with Arthur’s help, then the shirt. It feels weird but oddly comfortable. He took the sash and tied it around his waist again, not wanting to leave it off. 

“Well… All human men have one. It’s a part of the body that a man uses to piss and fuck.” He responds, getting dressed as well. “When a man gets excited and wants to fuck somebody, it gets hard and stands up. He has no real control over it.” He responds, looking at Feliciano. “It’s wonderful. But not important.” 

Feliciano blinked. “Fuck?” he tilted his head and looked at Arthur, more than confused at this point. He swayed a bit, starting to get used to the feeling of having legs. “So where are you gonna build the shelter?”

“Well… Have sex, breed, mate, whatever you call it.” He whispers, then smirks. “I found a good place. Right here.” He gently leads Feliciano to the clearing he picked out, holding him up when he has to. He kisses his cheek. “Look, we can have a huge house, and it will still be protected by the trees.” 

Feliciano was even more confused when he mentioned breeding. He followed him, still holding onto him just in case. He looked at the area and nodded. “Arthur, how do humans mate?” He asked. “Because mermaids lay eggs and the male then has to fertilize it. So I don’t really understand what you mean”

Arthur snorts softly, face reddening a bit. “So…” He explains it to Feliciano, trying to make it as simple as possible for the poor merman. He shrugs and starts working on cleaning up the clearing a little more as he explains it to Feliciano. 

Feliciano listened and turned a bit red. “Oh.” he blinked. “That’s so strange” he bit his lip and tried to help Arthur, wanting to practice walking so he could get used to using his legs. 

Arthur watches him carefully. “Not really. Actually it’s really great. I’ll never have kids, because I only like men.” He shrugs a bit and watches Feliciano cleaning up. “So I can’t have children and they won’t let me adopt because I’m a pirate.” 

Feliciano nodded. “So you just do it for the pleasure?” he asked, stumbling a bit but catching himself and smiling at Arthur. He was starting to figure out what he was doing.

Arthur nods. “Yeah, of course. Why not?” He smirks a bit. “It feels wonderful to do it, and since I have nothing better to do with my life then get gold and have sex then I see no reason not to. All you need is a yes from the other person and boom, sexual partner.” He hums softly and makes sure to watch Feliciano in case he falls. 

Feliciano shrugged. “I guess that makes sense. For someone who does that sort of thing” He continued to help Arthur clean up. “So do you not have to love someone to mate in the human world?” he asked. 

“Nope. In fact, I’ve only loved one of the people I fucked.” He responds. “And he tore my heart out. So I left him. I haven’t loved anyone since then, not except you.” He looks at the ground. “You’re the first person I’ve loved in a long while.” Arthur stands up, looking over the clearing. 

Feliciano bit his lip and blushed. “Oh. I’m sorry he did that to you” He stumbled a bit but moved close to him and hugged him tightly from behind. “I love you a lot.” he whispered, nuzzling into Arthur’s back. “I won’t do that to you.” 

Arthur blushes darkly and leans back into his touch. “I love you too, Feli. I’m fine, it’s fine.” He whispers, although it’s decidedly not. He leans his head back to lean on Feliciano slightly, and his lips turn upward into a smile. “I know. Let’s go to the water, I have to try to prepare a scale.” He turns in Feliciano’s arms and kisses him softly on the lips. 

Feliciano nodded and smiled. He kissed back gently and put his arms around him before slowly and carefully making his way back into the water. He flicked his tail once he had it and hummed happily. 

Arthur undresses himself and climbs into the water, changing into a merman. He goes through the process he watched Feliciano do, but it’s not working. He bites his lip, glaring at the green scales on his tail. 

Feliciano watched him and tilted his head. “Huh. As far as I can see you did it right. You should be able to do it. Other humans that were turned could” he blinked in confusion. “I think”

Arthur looks at Feliciano and then back at his tail. “Is it because I didn’t go to your little school?” He asks gently, looking at Feliciano. “Maybe you should do it. So that I don’t ruin our little house that I was thinking of.” He says gently. 

Feliciano nodded and prepared another scaled, holding it out for Arthur. “Maybe. I don’t really know though” he shrugged. “Well I can do it. No matter what happens as long as I prepare them then I have an unlimited amount” he assured. 

Arthur nods, taking it and wishing the house into existence. He makes sure the bed inside it is as soft as possible and covered in blankets and pillows. He changes back into a human and climbs onto the sand, putting his clothes back on when his skin dries. He looks at Feliciano and smiles brightly. “I love you, you’re so beautiful.” He whispers, poking his nose gently. 

Feliciano followed him out and did the same, blushing and giggling. He hugged him tightly then nuzzled into him and smiled. “I love you too” he whispered. “But I still think you are more beautiful than I’ll ever be” 

Arthur shrugs and looks at Feliciano. “Different beauty standards.” He whispers, pulling Feliciano into the house and flopping onto the bed. He smiles brightly and pulls him close, taking the blankets and wrapping the two of them up. “Ah… You’re so amazing Feli.” He whispers, kissing him gently then setting his head on Feliciano’s chest. 

Feliciano nodded and chuckled a bit. He looked around in slight amazement at the sight of the house. He nuzzled into him and blushed. “I love you so much. I was hoping to stay a merman. But this is nice. It’s a bit weird still. But I don’t hate it” He looked down at the bed. “This is super comfy” he giggled. 

Arthur nods and holds him close. He decides in that moment that he wants to spend the rest of his life with Feliciano, no matter what. He grabs Feliciano’s hand, closing his eyes and snuggling close. “Promise you’ll stay with me?” He whispers. 

Feliciano looked up at Arthur and smiled, kissing his cheek. “I promise you I will stay with you always” he whispered in return, nuzzling into Arthur and smiling brightly.


End file.
